Imphal, April 15: The Okram Ibobi Singh government has decided to raise one more battalion of the Manipur Rifles or India Reserve Battalion to guard the project site of the Rs 677 crore 90MW Loktak downstream project coming up at Thangal village in Senapati district.

An official source said the police headquarters have already submitted a Rs 32.49-lakh proposal to the home department for raising the battalion to guard the project officials and the site.

The state government, in a meeting chaired by principal secretary commissioner (power) D.S. Poonia had, last month, reviewed the progress of the project and decided to allocate adequate funds for setting up the security infrastructure, a source said.

The director general of police, Yumnam Joykumar Singh, has constituted a high powered team in connection with security arrangements for the project. Deputy inspector general (Range-III) M. Sushilkumar Singh is the chairman of the committee while the superintendent of Bishnupur district, K. Jayanta Singh and officials of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) are the members.

The committee has been asked to visit the project site and submit a report on or before April 23 about the security arrangement. The team will decide the locations of the security posts.

The government’s decision to raise another battalion came after the NHPC — which is partnering the state government in completing the project — asked the state last month to provide security to the survey team which will carry out the necessary environment study at the work site.

The power ministry had recently rapped the NHPC, which was initially handed over the charges of the Rs 677cr 90-MW capacity project, now awaiting environmental clearance, for the slow pace of work.

NHPC officials, however, blamed the prevailing law and order in Manipur for the slow pace. “The project languished because of the state government’s inability to provide security to NHPC officials and contractors working at the site,” a company official said.

An official source said the Ibobi Singh government would provide security only after it receives the report of the committee. “Work on the project will start as soon as the security issues are tackled,” the source added. The project will have a 28-metre-high and 120.2-metre-long barrage, one 5-metre diameter horseshoe- shaped and 5.8-km long head- race tunnel.

Manipur does not generate any power of its own and buys it from the Neepco,, NHPC and other power corporations. The state government feels that the Loktak project will help improve the power situation in the state.